Agency

In the past, Latinos who wanted to participate in some parts of American society felt they had to hide aspects of themselves to fit in. Today, that cultural zero-sum game is long gone – and our differences make us cool. Hispanics make up such a large proportion of young people in America that they’re not just participating in mainstream American culture, they’re increasingly defining it. And that doesn’t make them any less Latino.  

Richards/Lerma has extended its Latin American operations to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and grown its creative services operations.

Since the dawn of modern advertising, marketers have been trying to figure out what works. After years of spreadsheet addiction, educated guesses and gut-based optimization, the advent of advanced analytics tools has provided marketing organizations with far better — and far more automated — decision-making and forecasting capabilities.

The cookie has proved to be an effective and efficient solution to many problems, but with the evolution of the internet and new technologies, an over-reliance on the cookie has led to a variety of issues for industry stakeholders and consumers.

Branding has been around for hundreds of years. The word “brand” is derived from the branding or burning of a mark into the hide of cattle to differentiate one from another. Bass & Company claims to have the world’s first trademark with its red triangle logo. Wine jars found at Pompeii have indications of product branding on them. Branding creates differentiation. When done effectively it creates positive awareness and, ultimately, value.

According to Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report, ad spend by media type continued on trend through the first three quarters of 2013, with television and display Internet advertising leading the charge globally.

Gen Y consumers are showing a clear interest in vehicle ownership and have specific ideas of what they want in a car, according to Craig Giffi, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP, and automotive practice leader.

In marketing we have sort of considered ourselves part of the start-up world, happily playing along while killing the print industry, radio, journalism — and, a little more reluctantly, television. We are hobnobbing, slightly star-struck, with Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayer or Eric Schmidt, and pushing advertisers into any and all digital media.

Entravision Communications Corporation announced that Andrew Polsky has been appointed to Vice President of National Digital Marketing Solutions.  He will manage a team of national digital marketing solutions executives across the U.S., and will work closely with Entravision’s big data analytics division, Luminar.

Xoom Corporation ( has introduced three new television commercials for the U.S. Hispanic market.  The ads began airing this month and all speak to the message of mobile convenience.

Much talk has surfaced lately about the whether it makes sense to have a total market strategy. Some contend that the intent of a “total market” strategy—to recognize all potential consumers’ needs, culture and behavioral characteristics within a company’s marketing strategy—is too often misunderstood or not understood at all. This assertion has resulted in approaches that homogenize how organizations communicate with consumers, and it underemphasizes and even ignores cultural nuances that work to powerfully connect consumers and brands.  Terry J. Soto, Author and President & CEO, About Marketing Solutions, Inc.

That’s underscored by a new major poll of nearly 1,500 Latino Americans by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The poll, like our previous , covered several aspects of people’s lives — religious beliefs, personal finances, health status, education and more. It featured enough respondents that we could break them out into a few key groups by ethnic ancestry: Cubans, Dominicans, South Americans, Central Americans, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans. We were also able to contrast responses from folks who were immigrants with those who were born in the United States.

But it turns out my penchant for English isn’t unique for a mainland Puerto Rican, according to a survey of American Latinos by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. Given a choice between answering a gamut of questions about their lives in Spanish or in English, 78 percent of the Puerto Rican respondents chose English, significantly more than any other Latino group. According to the poll, only 20 percent of Puerto Ricans speak Spanish at home, less than half the percentage for respondents overall. (The poll didn’t include respondents in Puerto Rico, only Puerto Rican respondents living on the U.S. mainland.)

Since arriving here, as a community, they’ve prospered. Surveys show they graduate from college at greater rates and have higher levels of homeownership than most other Latino groups.

But suggests that, for many Cuban-Americans, the dream is becoming elusive. The poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health finds that 45 percent of Cuban-Americans say their finances are not so good or poor. They see themselves as financially troubled at rates higher than other Latinos.

This Miami-based PR agency will focus on raising Pulpo Media’s overall corporate brand presence in the United States as well as increase awareness of its leading technology and marketing solutions leveraged by its expansive blue-chip customer base.

In an online social community flooded with content, attempts to effectively communicate your message can feel like sending a letter out to sea in a bottle.

As the global economy continues to recover, a majority of companies intend to pursue growth opportunities outside their own industry sectors as digital technologies help create new higher growth markets, according to new research by Accenture.

Two out of three big business brands are planning to increase their focus and investment in engaging small to medium-sized business (SMB) customers over the next 12 to 36 months, according to a new study from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and Penton. However, these marketers admit to shortcomings in their ability to access customer data, intelligence and critical vertical-market insights that can improve campaign effectiveness.

Cohn & Wolfe announced it has been named Hispanic PR agency of record for automotive manufacturer Nissan North America following a competitive bid process.  The agency will help advance consumer awareness and preference for the Nissan brand across the United States.

Content marketers are looking to shift efforts to include more curation, research suggests, but every step along the journey is a struggle.